Tuesday
July
28th, 2009
I was SO sick last night, I am not sure what caused it, but I hope I am over it now.
Matt took the kids to swim after we finished breakfast and cleaned out the van. I stayed here to clean up and organize some and to make sure what little I did eat this morning stays on the correct track. I have an hour before they are due back for lunch.
This is the first time I have been in the camper by myself for any period of time. I have the beds made and the clothes sorted, the food and dishes are all neatly stored away. I swept the floor and the rugs outside and cleaned up my outdoor kitchen area. It's all very cozy and will be until lunch time. Still, despite the dificultly in actually living long-term (meaning more than overnight!) in the camper, I still am very much enjoying having it. We have camped more nights out this year than the last 4 years combined.
Fort Mountain State Park is a very nice place to camp, the sites are mostly spread out with some undergrowth around them to give a little privacy. The bathhouse is right in the middle of the loop we are camped in and it has hot showers with good water pressure and a laundry sink and washer and dryer. The campground is on the top of a mountain, so anywhere you want to go is going to be uphill and that was not the best thing ever last night during my many marches to the bathroom, but the campsites at least are level.
I figured out something this trip-if I put down the rear jacks and lock them in place and then crank up the front and put in those jacks, the camper is MUCH more stable. It has made everything better, now I don't feel every time a kid moves on the other end and there is not that tiny wobble when we walk around-plus, the door stays latched!
We are in site 11, the camping pad itself is a 45 degree angle from the driveway, backing in was difficult, but I can only see trees and the hillside out of my windows. It feels very private. The camp loop trail has one end just off our driveway and we have seen a few hikers, early today a group of retirees popped out of the woods near our table while we were eating and they were delighted to see the campground. One of them said, "Oh! So it's a loop trail! I had no idea!" Some of the trails up here are many miles long, I hope they don't head off exploring another one without snagging a map.
My only real complaint about the park itself is that the people who work here defer your questions to someone else-such as if you ask at the office about prices for canoe rentals, you are sent to the lake to ask them. And, we have nearly been hit twice while driving by staff in small orange or green gators speeding and going the wrong way. They do it going through parking lots and the campground loops. They flat fly down the main paved road and never slow down at trail crossings. The speed limit is something like 15 mph, they are easily tripling that. When we were at the trailhead for the tower/rock wall trail, the guy in his orange mini-truck was driving against traffic, speeding AND digging around in a bag in the seat next to him-he did not even look up as we jumped back behind the corner of the van.
Other than that and the occasional screaming kid up the hill from us, it has been VERY quiet and peaceful here. There is no traffic or group gatherings allowed after 9:45 and the gates are all locked down from 10-7. Since Sunday, we have been one of 4 campers in a 25+ site loop, Suzette and Gina opted to stay where they were in the other loop across the road. This morning, after the elder hikers emerged from the trail, we watched a deer circle the campsite she was not at all concerned we were nearby.
I have half an hour, I am going to work on resizing some photos and mess with the pages for the previous few days.
My view right now!
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Matt let the kids swim another hour, so I had a nice 3-hour mom-time this morning!
We had a delicious hot lunch of shells
and cheese and lemonade.
I was very hungry, I think my tummy funk has passed.
Also, Chandler drank Fanta through a green sour apple straw.
And so did Ben.
They got back just ahead of the POURING rain that we are still sitting and listening
to. It sounds more like hail at the moment!
Matt and Jake are at the showers, Jake needed to wash his hair, it had sand in it. He is doing really well with keeping his hair clean, just not quite as good about keeping it brushed!
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It rained all the rest of the afternoon, letting up for a couple hours around sunset, so we drove to a couple overlooks to see if we could see off the mountain. We could, so we walked out to the west overlook with Gina to see if we could catch something of the sunset, but no-it just got darker until it was really dark.
Overlook
Overlook
Cool Springs Overlook
Cool Springs Overlook
West Overlook
West Overlook
I was wearing the latest in designer
ponchos
It was really windy
Gina said I sounded like a trash bag caught on a branch.
The sky went dark.
And then it rained all night.
